£3.1 Million UK Lottery Winner Buys Son 200 Cigarettes, Gets Sued

A lottery jackpot-winning dad in the UK didn’t make his grown son too happy with what he bought him with his winnings recently

Winning a lottery isn’t always as lucky as it appears – based on mounds of empirical evidence – and if ever there was evidence that money can take relationships and tear them apart, it is the tale of William Robertson and his lottery jackpot-winning father, Alex Robertson.

Alex, age 58 and from Scotland, was the lucky winner of a £3.1m ($4.8 million) Euromillions jackpot as part of a syndicate of 12 bus drivers, who all shared the £38m ($59 million) prize. But rather than sharing his good fortune with his 35-year-od son William, the dad simply bought him 200 cigarettes with his winnings. Understandably, his son was a little disgruntled at this action.

As a result, William wound up allegedly harassing his father through text messages as he obviously wanted more than a few cigarettes. Perhaps a nice platinum lighter would have done the trick?

Arrested Development

William Robertson was arrested after his father claimed that the text messages had become threatening, but walked free recently after Alex failed to turn up at court to carry out the charges. Instead, he is reportedly living it up in the Spanish resort of Benidorm, where he now resides with his partner Morag.

“The allegation is one of harassment,” explained William’s defense lawyer Paul Harkins. “It takes the form of three text messages which were sent on September 25 last year. The prosecution say they amount to harassment; we say they don’t.”

Harkins went on to add that Alex – for whom money is obviously no longer an object – chose not to board a flight in order to come back for the court date. He also claims that Alex has been in contact with his son and has invited him to the Spanish resort.

“He invited him to Spain, to the local pub and paid for the taxi,” Harkins maintained. “This is the man who talks about being ‘petrified’ of William Robertson, can’t leave the house, is up till 3 am because he can’t sleep and has turned to drink.”

It looks as though a family which could have settled their differences with a heart-to-heart has wound up involving the courts needlessly.

“One would imagine the cross-examination that would have been put to him to see if he would have been harassed by three text messages that were sent on September 25th,” stated Harkins, suggesting that the lottery winner’s argument was possibly a little exaggerated.

Case Dismissed with No-Show Dad

“The case against you is dismissed and you may leave the court,” said chairman of the bench Angus Ferris to William Robertson, who refused to comment after the dismissal.

Earlier this year William’s brother, Alex Robertson Jr., aged 36, told how the family had been “ripped apart” by his father’s lottery win, and that he himself had even gone so far as to attack his father’s vehicle with a hammer when he was told that he would not receive a penny of the money – although his father’s exact way of delivering the frugal news was slightly more colorful in language.

Whatever the outcome, attacking a vehicle with a hammer would appear to be much more threatening than three text messages, regardless of what those messages actually said. But perhaps now the family can begin rebuilding after a great deal of embarrassment has been caused to both sides.